Welcome to The Other Change of Hobbit‘s web site 3.0, powered by WordPress, a place where you can browse, ask questions, get recommendations, check out our history, or just hang out — almost like visiting the brick-and-mortar store. After almost 36 years in Berkeley and one very unpleasant year in El Cerrito, we are making the transition into virtual space.

We also sell collectibles on Abebooks

and assorted out-of-print titles eBay:

Share this:

Like this:

Once upon a time Sam and Trouble had a bookstore home and were featured in this article’s predecessor. John McMurtrie writes up a whole new group of bookstore cats and dogs. As anyone could tell you, they’re not pets but the shops’ not-so-secret masters.

Share this:

Like this:

We have identified The Episcopal Church as the business in your industry with a high total marketing score of 1755. Create your free account to learn more about what they are doing and what makes up Other Change of Hobbit’s score of 488, as of December 31, 2014.

and even better:

“The Episcopal Church may not be a direct competitor, however, seeing what they are doing to market themselves online can give you ideas for how to attract more customers.”

Today, the American Booksellers Association reveals the finalists for the 2015 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards. Booksellers at ABA member stores across the country will choose the winners in eight categories in online balloting between now and midnight EDT on Tuesday, April 14.

All of this year’s finalists represent the types of books that indie booksellers champion best. The E.B. White Read-Aloud finalists also reflect the playful, well-paced language, the engaging themes, and the universal appeal to a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White’s collection of beloved books.

The winners will be announced on Thursday, April 16, and will be feted along with the honor book recipients at ABA’s Celebration of Bookselling Author Awards Luncheon on Thursday, May 28, at BookExpo America 2015 in New York City.

This year’s finalists are:

BOOK OF THE YEAR – ADULT FICTION

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel, by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)

The Bone Clocks: A Novel, by David Mitchell (Random House)

The Magician’s Land: A Novel, by Lev Grossman (Viking)

The Museum of Extraordinary Things: A Novel, by Alice Hoffman (Scribner)

Natchez Burning: A Novel, by Greg Iles (William Morrow)

Station Eleven: A Novel, by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf)

BOOK OF THE YEAR – ADULT NONFICTION

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande (Metropolitan Books)

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir, by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury)

The Empathy Exams: Essays, by Leslie Jamison (Graywolf Press)

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, by Hampton Sides (Doubleday)

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson (Spiegel & Grau)

On Immunity: An Inoculation, by Eula Biss (Graywolf Press)

BOOK OF THE YEAR – ADULT DEBUT

Fourth of July Creek: A Novel, by Smith Henderson (Ecco)

I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller, by Terry Hayes (Emily Bestler Books/Atria)

The Martian: A Novel, by Andy Weir (Crown)

Painted Horses: A Novel, by Malcolm Brooks (Grove Press)

The Queen of the Tearling: A Novel, by Erika Johansen (Harper)

Shotgun Lovesongs: A Novel, by Nickolas Butler (Thomas Dunne Books)

BOOK OF THE YEAR – YOUNG ADULT

The Darkest Part of the Forest, by Holly Black (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, by A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

The Indie Champion Award is presented to the author, illustrator, or group that, in the opinion of booksellers, has the best sense of the importance of independent bookstores to their communities at large and the strongest personal commitment to foster and support the mission and passion of independent booksellers. ABA invites readers to learn more about the finalists by clicking on their names below:

Share this:

Like this:

11:58am Last shot of OCH 2.0 storefront, after 24 hours of frantically moving out the remaining boxes of inventory and stuff

After a 24-hour marathon, the last boxes moved from 2020 Shattuck to 3264 Adeline!

Many thanks to the army of volunteers [list tk] who helped make this move possible.

The sales floor, which looked almost store-like on Wednesday, is now filled with stacks of boxes. Next step: to find homes for either their contents or the boxes themselves.

Over the next week, our sales hours will be:

Saturday and Sunday: noon – 6pm
Monday through Friday: 5pm – 7pm

During the rest of the day, we will be here unpacking, sorting, reshelving, clearing the floor, and generally trying to restore some kind of order to the sales floor. If you’d like to stop by during off hours, give us a call first to make sure there’s someone here.

Share this:

Like this:

More stuff keeps appearing out of dark corners. So despite another vanload going out there’s still only about 3/4 of boxes and furniture moved from 2020 so far. We did get one of the glass cases and one of the large rolling carts moved, but there are still several book cases in the basement, the monster back counter, and one more glass case, not to mention books and furniture in the attic and basement.

Shelves are getting bolted to the wall at the new store. New arrivals are on display, and we were open for a couple of browsers this afternoon.

We will definitely need help with the remaining loads during the week.

Our kittens Sam and Trouble are both disturbed and fascinated by the constant change in their playspace. Just wait until they’re actually moved to the new space.

Share this:

Like this:

Still need more hands this coming weekend for the what we hope will be the final loads.

We might be open at the new location on Sunday with the week’s new releases.

New location required a new phone number, as we’re no longer in the same Central Office’s range. The original 848-0413 will become a virtual number, kicking over to the new one. We’ve had that one since opening in 1977, so it’d be kind of silly to let it go. The new number is the very silly but memorable 510-OKHOBBIT.